viewing four out of five nights. but this is the -- if you wanted to run with the big dogs, this is what you had to be doing. we are at the 1854 detroit observatory. it is the second oldest building on the university of michigan campus. only the president's house is older. and this was the first building built that was a dedicated scientific research facility. the building is part of a campaign to transform the university of michigan that was first proposed by henry philip tappan who was the first president of the university. he didn't get here until 1852. he wanted to transform the university of michigan into a research university. prior to that time, michigan was mostly a sort prove vincial college where you really had to know your classical, greek and latin and be able to stand up and recite same. and he was really enamored of the prushian educational system. in the prushian educational system there was a real emphasis

on not only literature but also scientific curriculum and you learned by doing. so not just reading from a book and standing up and reciting, but conducting experiments on your own. learning to use the tools and push the frontiers of knowledge so you are adding something to the scientific knowledge of the whole. and so tappan really wanted to institute that here. and in the 1850s, astronomy and observations, observatories were fundamental to lots of other sciences. in part because the math is just ferocious. so if you understand the math to be able to operate a telescope like this, then you understand the math to move into engineering orificics or chemistry. lots of different sciences. so in the same way that today you need a biomedical engineering research center, in the 1850s, universities that wanted to be contenders needed observatories. so this was the first step in a

very public commitment to taking the university of michigan into n the direction of becoming a research university. scientific research. but it was also a very savvy public relations move on tappan's part because it is saying loud and clear we have a commitment to scientific research at the university of michigan. we're willing to build this building, put in of the best instruments in the world at the time, the best scientific research instruments at the disposal of faculty and students. and it's then publicized because the image of this building was engraved on letterhead. was put on catalogs. students talked about it. oh, my god, i can't believe you're going to dartmouth. dartmouth doesn't have an observatory. michigan has an observatory. so it was a way of attracting the attention of future students and, indeed, the enrollment just skyrocketed. when henry philip tappan wanted -- proposed this building, he was approached by some folks in

detroit who were willing to help him do the fund-raising. and they literally raised money by subscription. people would pledge $50 or $100. $500 was a huge amount of money. when tappan was sure he'd have enough money to build it, he himself went to europe to choose the instruments. on his way to europe, he stopped in new york city and contracted with henry fitz to build a big telescope in the dome and then he went abroad and consulted with astronomers and they suggested that this instrument, the transit instrument be gotten from one of the firms in berlin. so it's a prussian instrument. so they contracted with tappan to make this instrument. all of it is still functional. you can still open the hatchs.

tappan had a budget of about $24,000, give or take. and most of that money actually went into the instruments. so he's really concerned with taking a pretty modest budget and making it look much more impressive than the budget would suggest that he could. but he also understood how the tools had to function within the building. so it's not just about a pretty building. they wanted it to look good, but they also needed it to function. and so you have these piers that hold up the telescope here in the central part of the building. the pier is actually covered in stucco. and then the stucco is scored and the lines that you've just scored are colored in to look like big blocks of quarried stone. ann arbor was called the little stucco village because so many of the buildings, including the university buildings were brick buildings covered with stucco sdoerd look like big blocks of

quarried stone to evoke greek architecture and classical greek precedent. and so this building has an archaeologically correct greek front porch, greek revival, but then we add the italian ornate overhang so it's kind of a fashionable touch on top of the greek. so it's very concerned with appearing part of the tradition and then carrying it a little bit further. it looks good, that's gravy. tappan definitely wanted it to look good but it also had to function. once this building came in, then we got a chemistry laboratory on central campus. the law school came in. engineering. the school of engineering starts here in this building. they learn to use these instruments first. and the director here was teaching them the math they needed to carry that into physics. so, really, all the scientific curriculum comes out of work being done in this building. really it set michigan on a path

that not only made it one of the best universities in the nation but one of the best in the world. and that's because henry philip tappan didn't dream small. all weekend, american history tv is featuring ann arbor, michigan. home to the university of michigan. the school was moved from detroit to ann arbor in 1837 and fuels most of the city's economy. hosted by our comcast cable partners, c-span's local content vehicles recently visited many sites showcasing the city's history. learn more about ann arbor all weekend here on american history tv. >> i come here tonight to say one or two words on this campaign which is now coming into the last three weeks.

>> on october 13th, john kennedy had his third of four debates with richard nixon. and then the plan was for him to fly to ann arbor, stay here. this was a hotel, too, among other things. had rooms for rent. and stay here and then the next morning, started on a whistle stop across the state. but then word got out in the community that he was going to stay here the night. so students started gathering here. he was supposed to get here about 11:00. and instead, he got here closer to 2:00. so there are students waiting for three hours just packed in. his plan had been to go in the side door, and just sneak in the side door and sleep for the night. he was already late. had to get up early in the morning. then when he heard there was this huge crowd, of course he couldn't do that. here he is looking at this huge crowd of people saying, what can i tell them. so he floated the idea of a